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“He may be just a tramp, a guy that likes to roam about this great country without any special aim, just to thank the Lord for these beautiful mountains.”
-B. Traven, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

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“. . .here, where there are still the silences and the loneliness of the earth before man, . . .”

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Recently Read
- Eating Poison Oak
- Mugwort: A Natural Poison Oak Preventive
- Language of Forest Closure; Assault on an Ancient Right
- Indian Creek Waterfalls and Narrows
- Rocky Peak Park, Santa Susana Mountains
- Contact
- March of the Mustard; The Spread of Noxious Weeds
- Slippery Rock Stagecoach Road (19th Century)
- Old Cold Spring Tunnel (1897)
- Mark of Conquest: Benchmark and Mortar
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Latest Dispatches
- Language of Forest Closure; Assault on an Ancient Right
- March of the Mustard; The Spread of Noxious Weeds
- Mark of Conquest II: Benchmark and Mortar
- Save Old Mission Sycamore … __ __ __ …
- Raking the Forest: Anderson, Trump, Kuyper
- Initials of J.D. Reyes (1907)
- Last California Grizzlies Seen In Santa Barbara National Forest? (1926)
- Eccentric Artifact, San Marcos Foothills Preserve
- Fog Drip Morels
- Naming Santa Barbara’s Modoc Road
- Mark of Conquest: Benchmark and Mortar
- Hat Tip to the Selfless Samaritans In Service to Others
- The Intelligence of Coyote Tobacco (Nicotiana attenuata)
- The Journey of a Root (1907) and Plant Intelligence
- Santa Barbara County Morels
Lunar Phase

Tag Archives: Hiking
Indian Wells Canyon, Southern Sierra
A view of the ridgeline running down from Owens Peak, which was named by Major General John C. Fremont after Richard Owens, a captain who served in his California Battalion during the Mexican-American War. During the war Fremont captured the … Continue reading
Posted in Kern County
Tagged Hiking, History, Indian Wells, iPhonography, Landscapes, Nature, Outdoors, Photos, Southern Sierra, Travel, wildflowers
4 Comments
Fossil Falls, A Glacial Relic of the Pleistocene
David Stillman scrambling up familiar territory, through the gullet of Fossil Falls and over the slick, water polished basalt. Standing in the arid Owens Valley of California, beside an ancient dry riverbed that can barely be discerned amid cragged lava … Continue reading
Posted in Inyo County
Tagged Fossil Falls, Hiking, History, Indians, Native Americans, Nature, Owens River, Petroglyphs, Rock Art, Volcanoes, waterfalls
4 Comments
Sespe Hot Springs From Piedra Blanca
Fossilized oak leaf found along the Sespe Trail. Note the veins and serrated edges. A Late, Hot Start I didn’t start walking from Piedra Blanca Trailhead until a few ticks before ten in the morning, at least four hours later … Continue reading
Posted in Ventura County
Tagged Backpacking, Camping, Fossils, Hiking, Hot Springs, Nature, Photos, Sespe Hotsprings, Sespe Wilderness, Snakes, Swimming Holes
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SPAM, Backcountry Delicacy Par Excellence
“. . . the mouthwatering taste of SPAM® Classic seasoned with black pepper. It’s a delicious dream come true.” In a previous entry I dubbed the Santa Barbara County original, Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing, “a nutritionist’s nightmare, a glutton’s godsend.” Well, … Continue reading
Posted in Ventura County
Tagged Backpacking, Camping, Cooking, Food, Hiking, Hiking (2), San Rafael Peak, Sespe Wilderness, SPAM, Writing
6 Comments













